In the field of product lifecycle management, product development is managed through a series of interrelated data structures. A data structure is often specific to a development phase. If a subsequent development phase works with a different data structure, and if handover happens consecutively, then an effective synchronization is necessary. For example, a design engineer structures a product from a functional point of view by grouping basic functions that are necessary for a more sophisticated function. In contrast, a manufacturer prefers a structure that directly reflects the order or sequence of assembly. For instance, in hierarchical structures the components and sub-components can be organized as bills of materials.
In one example, a design bill of materials data structure for an airplane organizes the parts of the airplane into a hierarchy where the airplane as a whole product is at the highest level in the hierarchy and the sub-assemblies of the airplane are the fuselage, wings and engines, which are at the next lower level of the data structure hierarchy. Further sub-assemblies follow at lower points in the data structure hierarchy. The parts of the body, the parts of the wings and the parts of the engine are in this next level.
In contrast, a manufacturer organizes the same product of an airplane based on the order of assembly such that the parts of the fuselage and the wing might be grouped together due to their use in an early stage of assembly. Whereas other parts of the wings and engines might be separately grouped together because they are assembled in a separate, but parallel process.
In addition, over time many of the components of the product are changed, upgraded or different versions are utilized. These changes in the data structures over time can affect any component resulting in differences between associated data structures. The associated data structures must be modified to reflect the changes. For example, if an airplane assembly is modified at the design level to have a new engine type after several years of production, then the data structures representing the airplane at the manufacturing level must be updated to reflect the inclusion of the new engine type. A user must guide this modification, because the organization of the manufacturing data structure is based on order of assembly. An automatic conversion is in general not feasible.